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ter young Perfons from Mifcarriages of this nature, That being agreeable to his Defign in the beginning of this Book, which was. to Guard them against thofe greater and more heinous Vices, which if they once got an Habit of, they would not be very capable of receiving any Good by his following Inftructions: This feems to be the Reafon of his calling upon them fo earnestly, and fo often to Honour, and to Hearken to their Parents; of his warning them against Theft, and Murder, and Adultery, and againft Idlenefs, the Door that lets in all other Mifchief; which Things he diffuades them from in the beginning of this Book with mighty Vehemence, and with fuch repeated Admonitions of the unavoidable Miferies attending fuch Courses, as if he could never Caution them enough against them. His Advice to Obedience to Parents, is fo often repeated, that there is fomething of it in moft Chapters of his Book, especially towards the beginning of his Proverbs. As to Violence, Robbery and Rapin, and Murder, he fays in this Chapter, Verses 10, 11, &c. My Son, if Sinners entice thee, confent thou not. If they fay, Come with us, let us lay wait for Blood, let us lurk privily for the Innocent without Caufe; let us fwallow them up alive as the Grave, and whole, as thofe that go down into the Pit We hall find

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all precious Subftance, we shall fill our Houfes with Spoil: Caft in thy Lot among us, let us all have one Purse: My Son, walk not thou in the Way with them; refrain thy Foot from their Path for their Feet run to Evil, ; and make hafte to fhed Blood. Surely in vain the Net is fpread in the fight of any Bird. And they lay wait for their own Blood, they lurk privily for their own Lives. So are the Ways of every one that is greedy of Gain which taketh away the Life of the Owners thereof. With fuch like earneftness he diffuades them from Sloth and Idlenefs, Chap. 6. Verfes 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. He fends 5,6,7, them to learn of the Ant, that provideth her Meat in the Summer, and gathereth her Food in the Harveft Reprehending thereby their Sluggishness, when they fhould be honestly and profitably employ'd: How long wilt thou fleep, O Sluggard? When wilt thou arife out of thy Sleep? That is, How long wilt thou put off the Care of thy Bufinefs from Time to Time, till thou haft none left to do it in? Tet a little Sleep, a little Slumber, a little folding of the Hands to Sleep. So fhall thy Poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy Want as an armed Man. That is, It will fteal upon thee by degrees, and at last opprefs thee irrefiftibly, when thou haft no Means left to help thy felf. As to Uncleannefs and Adultery, this is

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the Reason he gives for being fo earnest in Warning his Son against the Harlot, That her Houfe is the Way to Hell, going down to the Chambers of Death, Chap. 7. v. 27. None that go unto her, return again, neither take they bold of the Paths of Life. Chap. 2. v. 19. But because this Lewdnefs is one of the most fatal Caufes of Mifery, Youth being fo prone to it, and not apt to fufpect the Mischief that lurks under it, till it be too late, therefore the whole 5th Chapter is spent in an earneft Diffuafive from it, in which the Wife Man tells his Son, v. 3. that The Lips of a strange Woman drop as an Honey-Comb, and her Mouth is fmoother than Oyl. But therefore he earneftly defires him to look to the End of thofe Pleasures, v. 4. But her End is bitter as Wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged Sword. Then he fhows at large how the Health, and Strength, and Eftates and Credits of Men are impaired by degrees, and at laft utterly loft, which they cannot reflect upon without great Anguish, when they look back, and confider their former Follies, together with their present Miferies: Therefore he fays, Verfes 8, 9. Remove thy Way from her and come not nigh the Door of her House, left thou give thine Honour to others, and thy Tears unto the Cruel that is, Left thou caft away

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thy Youth and Strength upon Whores, that when they have confumed thy Body and Eftate, will laugh to fee thee Perish. And v. 10. Left Strangers be filled with thy Wealth, and thy Labours be in the House of a Stranger. And Verses 11, 12, 13, 14. And thou mourn at the laft, when thy Flesh and thy Body are confumed, and say, How have I hated Inftruction, and my Heart defpifed Reproof? And have not obeyed the Voice of my Teachers, nor inclined mine Ear to them that inftructed me? That is, I was fufficiently fore-warned of all this Mifery, but fo ftupidly foolish have I been, that no Warnings would ferve my turn: Therefore he adviseth his Son in the following Part of that Chapter, to a Married Life, Verses 15, 16. And fo on, fhewing the vaft Difference between the Satisfaction and Pleasure that may be taken in the Kindness and Affection of a Wife, and in a lawful Iffue by her on the one fide, and between Slavery to an imperious expenfive Strumper, and the Shame of a baftardly Brood on the other. But if none of thefe Counfels and Warnings would prevail, he concludes with what he had often reminded him of before, viz. That he should die without Inftruction, and in the greatness of his Folly go aftray, Verse the 23d, and the laft of that Chapter,

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that is, fhould inevitably Perish, and come to utter Ruin without Remedy.

By thefe vehement and particular Cautions of the Wife Man against Difobedience to Parents, and Murder, and Idleness, and the Lufts of Whoredom and Adultery, we may fee, what thofe Sins are, which he efpecially means in the Text, wherein he fuppofes that wicked Men do plunge themfelves into Miferies even in this World, which they are never able to deliver them-felves from; and that is, no more than what daily Obfervation makes good, than what innumerable Examples confirm, of the Infamy, of the Poverty, of the Diféafes, of the spending of Eftates, and undoing of Fortunes, which are confequent upon fuch wicked Courfes as thefe are. But,

3. If any go on in these Practices upon which Nature it felf, and God's Curle befides have feemed to Sentence Miferies in this Life, if fome of them fhould happen to escape here, and live out their Days without any great Misfortune befalling them at laft, yet there is a Day a coming, when they will not efcape; One Day they will finart for it, and That is, the Day of the Judgment to Come: Then what is faid in the Verfe fore-going the Text, will be fully made good upon them, That their Fear will come as Defolation, and their Deftruction as

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